France’s new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was to take office on Wednesday facing a day of protests disrupting transport, education and other services in a show of grassroots anger against President Emmanuel Macron.

The protests, led by a loose left-wing collective called “Block Everything”, are a baptism of fire for Lecornu, 39, a close ally of Macron who has served the last three years as defence minister.

Demonstrators gathered across the country from the early hours, with 80,000 police deployed to keep the peace.

Groups of demonstrators, many masked, built barricades with dumpsters and pelted police with rubbish on the outskirts of Paris, according to AFP journalists.

In the southeastern city of Lyon, protesters blocked a highway running through the city and set bins on fire, wh

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